Today marks the 40th Anniversary of the celebration of Earth Day. While the Ewing family continues their own recycling program – from separating the trash into various recyclable piles to reusing printed paper for school projects – I searched for other ways to expand our efforts and reduce our carbon footprint. Today seemed like a good day to do that!
I found some interesting, novel and completely crazy ideas in my search, but I also found a couple of things that we, as a family, can implement right away and add to our lives. Add a comment below to tell me about your own Green efforts, what’s working, what’s not and of course, fun stories are always welcome.
Here are some of the most interesting links I found. Hope you can find something interesting or crazy here for you!
There is only one Google and the Doodle Artists have done it again. Something very cool and very Green for Earth Day. Makes me want to find Sean Connery in the rainforest!
I recently spent 3 days in the esteemed company of the likes of Dan Kennedy, Bill Glazer, Yanik Silver, Ron Ipach and Dean Hunt – well, me and several hundred others that is! The Outrageous Academy & Workshop led us through many, many, tried and tested examples of outrageous marketing that WORKS! I do believe that after those 3 days, the ideas have finally been accepted by my subconscious, which is now very busy convincing my conscious mind that these ideas, while wacky and wonderful, DO WORK!
Bill Glazer gave us some in-depth training on the ideas presented in his book – Outrageous Marketing That is Outrageously Successful. He has used these ideas for
Bill Glazer signed his book for me
many years and made millions of dollars within his own menswear retail businesses, and again in the Glazer-Kennedy Insider Circle (GKIC) information marketing business. The book itself is a reference tool like no other, with multiple swipe-and-deploy examples ready for the swiping and deploying! You just have to train yourself to ask “How can I use this in my business to get more clients and make more money?” – and not shake your head saying, “that won’t work in my business.”
Since that weekend, I have seen some examples of advertising that while not particularly outrageous, they certainly are different and made me notice their message. Again, wondering “How can I apply that in MY business.”
Outrageous Marketing at Work
The first one is a rather unique effort by the elementary school to get more parents to give their email addresses to the school so they can better communicate with them… and save some paper by not having to send letters and flyers home with each kid. *Note: there was a 2nd step to this process, with a deadline! See the pic at the bottom of the post. Added Feb 4, 2010.
Pretty good idea to get the kids to get the parents to give up the elusive email addresses so they can get a free homework pass – rather ingenious, I do think!
The next one I saw was a billboard. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of thinking – “I’ll take a photo of that tomorrow”. Tomorrow came, and the billboard was gone! Another lesson taught by my esteemed pals – don’t think about it, do it NOW! Lesson now learned the hard way ; I consider myself appropriately wrist-slapped.
The billboard said “Men have rights too” and gave phone number and website for a local law firm specializing in
This firm are going the opposite direction to everyone else
divorce. It pulled on the opposite emotion to most other companies who advertise to the women. I bet it has caught a lot people’s eyes as they drive by. So, in it’s place is a new billboard – by the same law firm. Check this one out!
This time, by focusing on the kids, they are pulling on the emotions of both sides by intimating that they have the kids best interests at heart. If you don’t want a messy divorce in which your children might get hurt, try us – we’ll take good care of them for you. Pretty outrageous, don’t you think?!
So, now I have to knuckle down and put the outrageous in my own advertising. If you have any ideas you’d like to share, or just have me try it so you don’t look like an eejit (that’s Dublinese for idiot!), comment below and I’ll get back to you. Outrageous only please!
In case you haven’t heard about the newest, most fun way to connect with people, here’s an update on Poken – a replacement for your conventional business card. Use a Poken usb to create your unique identity complete with contact details, social media network information and use it to connect with others and exchange your contact details.
Say goodbye to business cards and say hello to Poken!
Visit ClubPoken.com for a complete overview of all the new Pokens in the collection and make sure you get your own!
Here’s a quick video introduction to Poken, presented by Stephane Doutriaux – creator of the Poken.
People always say that us folks in the hospitality industry here in Orlando have WAY too much fun with our jobs. Sometimes I’m inclined to agree with them! This time we, the folks promoting tourism in Orlando, were at the receiving end of the customer service provided by the staff at Worlds of Discovery. They treat us to a fantastic event so that we can inspire our people to promote the event in question to our own customers and visitors to the area. These guys really know how to take good care of their customers – us!
Michelle & Jackie
On Friday, September 25th, our friends at Worlds of Discovery (SeaWorld, Aquatica, Discovery Cove, Busch Gardens, Islands of Adventure) hosted a fantastic VIP Event for opening night at Howl-o-scream in Busch Gardens. Very happy to report that I was included in this VIP list and RSVP’d that I would most certainly attend. Despite the constant warnings of blood and gore involved, I opted in!
Three busloads of Orlando hospitality industry folk headed off to Tampa in the Friday afternoon I4 traffic. Drinks and snacks provided while we networked, chatted or watched the movie Scream – I had quite forgotten how long it takes the kids in these movies to actually die!
Upon arrival at Busch Gardens, we were welcomed by red carpet and excellent hosts into the Welcome Reception.
And what a reception it was! Fantastic food, lots of InBev beverages, fabulous desserts (no less than three chocolate fountains..) – with a backdrop of Vampires strutting their stuff on the catwalk. Many folks took advantage of the opportunity to have their very own vampire fangs created and installed. Lady Vayne held court for her visitors and posed for photos with the peasants! There were a couple of coffins laying around that some of us peasants made use of and had some scary photos taken. Mine is at the bottom of this post. And, yes, that really is me in there…. at least those are my hands and my face!
At 7pm we were herded out into the park to start our Howl-o-scream experience in the haunted houses or scare zones. Kudos to our guides for trying valiantly to keep us unruly groups together going into the haunted houses and finding us again afterward! We had a lot of fun throughout the evening. Everything was really well done – the attention to detail is fantastic and the “players” really put themselves into character to scare the living daylights out of us!
There is a particular section where the pathway is covered with a swirling mist; you can hear werewolves howling in the dark and feel scary creatures come out of the dark and attach themselves to your group. You don’t really notice them until they say something and spook you! The make-up on these guys was fantastic and the whole atmosphere was electrically charged.
All in all, the event was a screaming success – as witnessed by the absolute ton of teenagers screaming their way through the event! We will most certainly be promoting this excellent event for the Halloween season and highly recommend that you get your tickets now before it’s too late.
Click here for details on dates and tickets for Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida.
